Q U A N T U M
by Blood Inc
Summary: After the disappearances of the CMC and numerous other Ponies, Celestia must put a stop to the Disappearances forever. However, it would seem that things are going downhill as soon as they were attempted to be stopped. Official sequel to my 'SONIC EXE' Crossover fic. Chapter two is up. DEFINITIVELY NOT A PAIRING.
1. Chapter 1

AN: Okay guys this is a (short) Prologue for my new story, it will be a sequel to "SONIC EXE" just with some extra characters threw in, oh, and it's a sequel to the original ending, not the alternate ending by the way. Have fun.

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P.R.O.L.O.G.U.E

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It was a dark and stormy night, honest folk has left the streets of Ponyville, opting to stay inside.

Just about a week ago, mysterious disappearances happened. Dozens of ponies just... Vanished, without a trace. Some bodies were recovered, in a state that couldn't be shown to their families. Some were buried, most were taken to study but alas nothing came useful from it. The Princesses were troubled heavily by this, the ponies that were under their rule and protection were just popping out of existence without nobody being the wiser. Some ponies have started to think that the judgement day has come, others were starting to connect these recent events with ye olde "Tall Stallion" stories, raising even more paranoia among the population.

Celestia had to intervene or else the sole population of Ponyville would tear apart among itself, figuratively speaking of course. With little to no time for taking action, Celestia decided to send a recon team into the Everfree forest, with her sister Luna leading it.

* * *

"Dear sister, I know this is sudden. But you must comply."

Celestia was having a hard time convincing Luna to do what she had in plans...

"_**DO NOT SPEAK TO ME! WHAT DO YOU THINK I AM? CANNON FODDER**_?!"

Luna was... Obviously not taking it well.

"Sister, it is the only way. We can stop this only if you agree to help out, can you imagine how much it will mean to ponies to have a Princess with them on a sensitive task like this? Aside from increasing their morale and hope, you can of course protect them if something goes wrong. I believe in you, you are not cannon fodder, I am sure everything will be fine." Celestia tried to reassure her as much as she could, considering this could, infact, be a one-way trip...

"**YOU KNOW WELL THAT THERE IS SOMETHING THERE! WHY WOULDN'T YOU GO YOURSELF?! YOU ARE AFRAID!**" Luna screamed back at Celestia in outrage.

"I have to stay here, who would-" Celestia started to reply, but was soon cut-off by Luna

"**I WOULD BE ABLE TO DO IT AS GOOD AS YOU WOULD! YOU JUST SEE ME AS A SACRIFICIAL LAMB! LEAVE ME BE!**" Luna stormed away quickly, Celestia couldn't do anything to stop her. She only looked down for a moment before turning away and walking back to her throne. She needed time to think about this all...

* * *

Meanwhile in Everfree, inside a small shed.

A red symbol over the fireplace started glowing brightly, a figure was suddenly thrown out of it and onto the floor. The figure started to rise on it's hind legs and look around before letting out a sigh

"_Great..._" A cold voice said plainly to nobody in particular before opening the door and walking out...

* * *

Only in a few hours, the disappearances have increased ten-fold, in the end the Everfree forest was blocked from all sides by the order of Princess Celestia until the mystery was resolved. However, it was only the _beginning_...


	2. Chapter 2

F.I.R.S.T C.O.N.T.A.C.T

It was a fine evening in Ponyville... As fine as an evening in a nearly deserted town can be of course.

The inhabitants were told to lock themselves inside their homes when the royal guard arrived. A bunch numbering of more than thirty stallions, all in armor and armed with weapons, were sent to Ponyville, the outskirts of Everfree more specifically. They were positioned outside the Quarantine at this time.

The Quarantine was consisted of a magical dome placed all around the Forest, maintained by a couple of the more powerful Unicorns of the nation, it did it's job on keeping things inside it, not so much on keeping things from outside coming in though, resulting in some of the more curious and less law abiding ones getting stuck inside the forest when nobody was looking which was one of the prime reasons in increasing the guards.

Gods forbid if you got only halfway through...

The guards were quick to position themselves in twos and threes at strategic spots to prevent others from coming through, while a smaller group staid behind, waiting for someone.

After quite some time, a golden carriage arrived at the scene, a few more guards came out of it, along with a dark blue Alicorn wearing light armor, she was not looking very confident.

"Her majesty Princess Luna!" One of the guards cried out rather fanatically before bowing down, all the other guards followed suit, but the Alicorn didn't seem to be affected by that at all.

"Please, PLEASE!" She cried out at the guards "We are not here for ceremonies or greetings, we all know what we need to do, the sooner we're finished, the better!" She ordered and within seconds a whole squad of the armed stallions were right behind her, with some hesitation, she stepped inside, the guards following close by...

* * *

A pair of red eyes glinted across the forest, they were moving rather fast, but not too fast to be unseen. They finally stopped upon seeing a group of ponies entering the forest and glared at them, but kept their distance. After a few seconds of observing the eyes just disappeared... Followed by the sound of feet running.

However the eyes didn't seem to be the only thing watching as there was also a tall shadowy figure just standing in the darkness, watching the group and doing seemingly nothing in particular.

As the group slowly ventured into the forest, making their way through the wines and trees the figure's eyes flashed green for a moment, then it proceeded to make it's way forward very slowly.

* * *

"Where the hell am I?" A voice asked nobody in particular as a pony slowly walked through the forest, his figure obstructed by darkness. One thing was for sure, he had a wild spiky mane and a tail to match, other than that he was pretty much just a blank black color, the stallion probably couldn't even see his own hooves in the darkness, but somehow kept on going through without much trouble. However, he was soon interrupted by the howl of a Timberwolf, not a moment later he got tackled by it, and landed with the Timberwolf standing over him, the wooden creature tried to bite the stallion's neck, but all it did bite was dirt, the stallion seemed to disappear.

Then he re-appeared and grabbed the Timberwolf by the neck, proceeding to slam it's head against the ground brutally, the wooden wolf let out a few howls of pain before becoming silent, it's head now turned into a pile of broken wood.

"Huh, so... Timberwolves... Then I guess I'm back in Everfree again..." The stallion whispered in a now darker voice, his hooves dropped the corpse, and it fell apart into pieces as soon as it made contact with the ground... Then he proceeded further into the forest.

Only to come across more ponies, he quickly hid behind a tree, and decided to observe, now he was in a more brighter part of the forest, and his mane was slightly visible, it had at least three different colors in it, but the colors couldn't be told apart since the darkness seemed to make everything appear greyish. He poked his head out, spotting a couple of armored ponies that were looking around pretty much everywhere, as if searching for something. Or more like hunting for someone...

Then the stallion realized that they were now looking in his direction, and that he still had his head poked outside of his cover.

"...Shit." He quickly moved his head back into cover just in time as a magical bolt darted past the spot where his head used to be a moment ago.

"It's here, it's here!" One of the armored ponies quickly yelled out, causing the others to assume a defensive formation as they proceeded to scan the whole area with their eyes, then the same pony that warned the others nodded to two of them, silently ordering them to go behind the tree he was using for cover.

As the pair made their way around the tree, one at the left side, the second on the right side, trying to flank him, by the time they came around the other side of the tree, the stallion was gone...

"Where is it?!"

The stallion was up on the branches of the tree right now, listening to the chattering of the guards below. Still having no idea why they were after him...

But he knew they were a threat and that they had to go. He pulled out a what looked like a knife, then threw it at the one who seemed to be in charge, with impossible accuracy, the knife flew straight into the pony's forehead, sending him flying five feet backwards, and making him land on his back, dead before he made contact with the ground. The others were sent into a fit of panic by this and started to shoot with arrows and magical bolts everywhere, trying to hit something, anything, but failing.

Then another knife got hurled by the stallion in the trees, hitting one of the ponies that was wielding a bow. The knife embedded into the armed stallion's back, going right through him and into the ground.

"It's in the tree!" the rest of them screamed and proceeded to shoot at the tree's top with everything they had, forcing the stallion to jump off the tree and onto another one, the tree he used to be on was now riddled with arrows and holes.

Then a loud crack was heard from below, and then the sound of something dropping.

The ponies below started to scream and tried to defend themselves from whatever that just had attacked them, but silence quickly came. The stallion dared to look down, and saw nothing.

No bodies, no blood. Just a few weapons they were carrying...

"Well you created quite a distraction for me... Thank you." A dark, echoing voice spoke behind him, he slowly turned around, his eyes getting illuminated by a red light. The red light was coming from a pair of red eyes, the red eyes belonged to a bipedal spiky figure that was standing not two feet away from him, the creature tilted it's head before chuckling and starting to disappear "Better be ready for round two..." It spoke in a sinister voice before appearing to just poof out of existence...

The stallion was only heard sneering before climbing down from the tree.

* * *

Quite some time passed since the Princess and her squad lost contact with the team that was supposed to scout out ahead of them, when they came to the small clearing that was supposed to be the place where they were supposed to be waiting, they were gone. They found a few weapons, they found arrows and holes everywhere, but not a sign of their team.

"...Let's just get the hell out of here!" one of the team members yelled out, starting to back away, gaining the attention of the others

"I-I mean, look at this! They ain't coming back! It-It's just like the reports! Somepony disappears... They-They're nowhere to be found u-until days later, their corpses just p-p-pop out of damn nowhere! They are goners, man, let's just bug out and call it even, there's no reason for us to continue thi-" But the stallion who was speaking was interrupted by the Princess

"Enough! I shall hear of this cowardice no longer! They could have just been caught by surprise and had to retreat to a safer location." She spoke like she herself was not really sure

"I have to agree with her majesty... They're trained soldiers, they know how to take care of themselves, if they were ambushed by this creature, they probably retreated... Or had their last stand here..." An older looking stallion spoke slowly, but he seemed to be taking this better than anyone else.

The Princess just sighed before looking around, the trees were riddled with arrows and holes that were made by magical attacks as it seemed... She couldn't really come to a conclusion except that the team fighting here was attacked by something that took position in the trees.

"What should we do?" The eldery stallion asked

"Get the hell out of here that's what!" That same stallion who was rolling out the scaredy-cat speech before piped in again

"No! We stay, make a camp here, we'll investigate the whole area, and see what is going on here." The Princess decided, before trotting away, deciding to contact the other teams by telepathy.

Only they didn't see that a pair of eyes was watching them...

And they were closing in.

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AN: Okay guys, sorry for the long wait and the shortness of the chapter. I had to cut a lot of content in order to post the chapter here in time. Also sorry for any grammar mistakes and typos if I made them. See you next time.


	3. Chapter 3

It is said that if you stare long enough at Everfree it stares back.  
True monsters however not only stare back, but feast upon your eyes and your very soul as well...

And Everfree contains these monsters, it was always meant to be like that. Should there be no more monsters there shall be someone who would always come to replace them. Be it some pony gone mad or the devil itself, they will always be there.

But those are just tales used to scare misbehaving foals, right?

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W.I.P.E.O.U.T

* * *

"Ugh... What... Where am I?"

Princess Luna had just awoken, her sight slowly shifting from blurry to clear. Her form was covered in dirt and smears of red, lying on the forest floor in the middle of nowhere...

Alone

"What... Happened to me?" She wondered out loud, trying to recollect her memories of how she ended up here.

Then it hit her, she recalled being with the royal guards in the forest, tracking for something or... Someone.

* * *

Flashback

* * *

"Your majesty, excuse me for askin' but... Just where are we headed?" A younger guard asked the Princess as he followed her through the forest, alongside the others.

"We are leaving." The Princess quietly answered, her head hanging low "We were not able to find the others, we must leave then. I do not wish to endanger us any further."

"But majesty, Princess Celestia-" The eldery guard began

"My sister can do something else about this. I will not allow any more ponies to be taken." Her voice started to get shaky, despite her trying to at least look strong

That's when things went downhill...

Without any warning, the elder stallion stopped in his tracks. He stood there for a few moments before his eyes rolled up and blood started to roll down the edges of his mouth and he fell over.

The Princess quickly rushed back to him and rolled him over, but it was too late. Upon closer inspection she noticed an entry wound on his left side, it was thin, almost as if he was stabbed with a knife. But that didn't make sense as someone would have noticed if something tried to sneak up on them...

Then she heard a scream from the front

"Spencer!" One of the guards screamed and went running after the scream of his comrade, only to be suddenly launched up in the air by some invisible force right as he was passing under a tree. He appeared to start choking as if something was forcing itself down his throat, yet nothing was seen.

The others opened fire at the area above the stallion, their arrows stuck into something invisible, yellow liquid started to ooze from where the arrows entered.

Then the creature started to appear visible, slowly as if fading into existence. It looked like a stallion in a suit, but it had no tie on, it's face was unseen, covered by the leaves, but it had something protruding from it's back.

Where usually a pony would have a normal tail, it had a tentacle-like one and it was currently forcing it down the guard's throat, not seeming to mind the arrows that intruded it's body.

The guards continued shooting it to no effect, until one of the unicorns fired a fireball at it, only then it let go of the guard and pounced away

"Aw shit! Where did it go?! What the fuck was that?" The stallion that complained before piped in again, aiming his crossbow all around, uttering curses at every corner, then he looked around to see who was left.

Three guards, not counting the Princess and the guard that was previously being choked to death who was surprisingly still alive, only coughing and hacking madly.

Then they heard screeches, lots of them. The Princess' eyes widened and she quickly grabbed the scaredy-cat stallion "Run!" She looked back from where the screeches were coming, spotting figures approaching from the distance "RUN!" The stallion finally started running, quickly followed by the Princess and the rest of them.

One of the guards turned around to fire his bow at their pursuers, only to find them right behind them. One of the pony-shaped creatures pounced on him, a disturbing zig-zag shaped mouth started opening on it's face, revealing some sort of a tongue inside. The tongue split into three parts which in turn revealed the inside of it, littered with sharp teeth. Then the tongue shot forward and pierced the stallion's skull and splattering his brains on the ground. The rest of the creatures still in hot pursuit after the group.

The Princess turned her head around and instantly regretted it. She fired a blast at the creatures from her horn, managing to stall them for a bit, but then slammed into a tree as she wasn't looking where she was going, the last thing she saw was the cowardly guard before she blacked out.

* * *

Flashback end

* * *

"...Majesty?" The Princess was shaken out of her flashback by a stallion, his helmet was removed, revealing his dark grey coat and his black mane, his eyes however weren't exactly visible in the shadowy forest

"Uh- Where am I?" She started coughing a little

"We're... We're still in the forest, Majesty... I dragged you away from them, I don't know how we managed to escape." He said with sadness in his voice "We lost the others."

"..." The Princess staid silent

"I'm... I'm recruit Starlight..." The stallion gave a small salute "...Come on, we need to leave this place."

The Princess smiled sadly "...Alright... Where are we headed?" She croaked out weakly

"Well... The closest way to the barrier is that way." He pointed at the north "I just hope those... Things don't appear again..." He looked down

"We should hurry then..." The Princess stood up, a determined look on her face.


End file.
